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French Revolutionary Wars
The 'French Revolutionary Wars '''was a series of military conflicts between the infant French Republic and a variety of European powers armed for the invading. With the Storming of the Bastille and the fall of the Kingdom of France in 1789, the other European absolute monarchies, fearful that they would soon be overthrown by republicans within their own countries, pledged to restore King Louis XVI of France to his throne. France declared war on Austria in April 1792, Prussia in summer 1792, and Britain, the Dutch, and the Spanish in 1793. For the duration of the 1790s the French fought not only on their eastern borders but also at sea with the British, Dutch, and Spanish and in Italy with the Austrians; at one point, French general Napoleon Bonaparte embarked on an Egyptian Campaign against the Ottoman Empire to threaten British India. Although France's Egypt campaign was defeated and many of their government members were guillotined in the Reign of Terror, France eventually defeated all of their enemies and turned almost all of Italy's city-states, the United Provinces, and the Rhenish city-states into protectorate states. Background A New Age of Warfare The setbacks France had experienced in the Seven Years War led to a drive for reform of the army and navy. Army officer Jean-Baptiste de Gribeauval was responsible for a new artillery system, with an improved range of standardized guns for aggressive deployment on the battlefield. Another influential figure was the Comte de Guibert, who prophesied a new age of warfare in which fast-moving armies would seek to annihilate the enemy in decisive battles: "The hegemony over Europe", he wrote, "will fall to the nation which ... becomes possessed of manly virtues and creates a national army". Military Academies Reformers such as Guibert and Gribeauval met resistance from the French nobility, however, who defended their monopoly of the higher officer ranks. New military academies were created for the sons of the poorer nobility - Napoleon Bonaparte was one beneficiary - but even they could mostly progress only in the artillery or engineers. New Recruits After the revolution of 1789, large numers of aristocratic officers emigrated - about 5,500 out of 9,500 by 1792. It was thus out of necessity as well as principle that the officer corps was opened to all classes in 1790, with NCOs and junior officers soon promoted to high rank. New infantry regulations adopted in 1791 embraced Guibert's theories on aggressive tactics and strategy. First Coalition The French declaration of war on Austria that came in April 1792 was motivated by little more than a desire to maintain popular enthusiasm for the revolution. It took little account of the state of the French Army, which since 1789 had lost the majority of its officers as well as many regular soldiers. An appeal for volunteers partly made up the numbers of infantry, but there was almost no cavalry and the supply system was in chaos. An initial French advance into the Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium) was a fiasco, with most of the volunteers fleeing the moment they came under fire. Undaunted by this, the revolutionary government declared war on Prussia that summer. Initial Victories for France The Austrians and Prussians were preoccupied with Poland, which they were preparing to partition with Russia. Despite a bold declaration of support for Louis XVI in 1791, they had little interest in restoring his monarchial powers. But a prostrate France was a tempting target and, after lengthy preparations, an army led by the Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick crossed the French frontier in August 1792. It advanced as far of Valmy, where on 20 September the artillery of the old French royal army put up stiff enough resistance to persuade Brunswick to withdraw. The elated French army now returned to the offensive, again invading the Austrian Netherlands and defeating a smaller Austrian force at Jemappes. Despite these victories, France plunged deeper into political and military crisis. It increased its number of enemies by declaring war on the Dutch, British, and Spanish in 1793. The introduction of conscription in February sparked uprisings in parts of the country that were already alienated by revolutionary policies, notably the Vendee. Royalists handed the naval port of Toulon to the British and a French army was driven out of the Austrian Netherlands by the Austrians - its commander, General Charles Dumouriez, defecting to the other side. The French revolutionary government responded to this boldly. Lazare Carnot, a military engineer, became Minister of War in August 1793. He oversaw the ''levee en masse, not only an extension of conscription to all men aged 18 to 25, but a general mobilization of the masses in aid of the war effort. Turning the Tide of War Carnot ensured that all new conscripts were integrated with the regular army and that arms supplies were expanded to equip them. Talented and aggressive young soldiers won rapid promotion; for instance, Louis Hoche, a corporal in 1789, was a general by autumn 1793. Life for senior officers was precarious; the revolutionary government ruled by terror, and a general could easily lose his head to the guillotine for political or military failings. But a combination of bold, ambitious commanders and armies swollen with fresh conscripts turned the tide of the war. By the second half of 1793, Toulon was retaken - partly through the efforts of artillery captain Napoleon Bonaparte - and the Vendee was retaken, although the ruthless "pacification" of rebel areas would take another three years. The French Army of the North defeated the British and Austrians at Tourcoing in May 1794, and General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan's Army of the Sambre-Meuse defeated the Austrians at teh battle of Fleurus in June, finally driving France's foes out of the Austrian Netherlands. (Incidentally, this battle marked the first military use of aviation in the form of an observation balloon.) By 1795 the French had annexed the Austrian Netherlands, occupied the Rhineland, turned the Dutch Netherlands into the satellite Batavian Republic, and made peace with Prussia and Spain. There was no longer any military threat to France and the revolution had passed its virulent phase, with the end of the terror and the installation of the more moderate government of the Directory. The Glory of War The French lost none of their lust for war, however, which had turned into a self-sustaining system. In response to supply problems, as well as Guibert's theories of mobile warfare, their armies had taken to living off the land. As long as they campaigned on foreign territory, they cost little to maintain and brought in great wealth through plundering conquered lands. As well as exporting revolutionary principles, successful warfare brought glory to the regime, satisfied ambitious officers, and kept soldiers paid and fed. In 1796 the French embarked on fresh campaigns against Austria, giving Napoleon Bonaparte the chance to show his military genius and begin the transition from the Revolutioanry to the Napoleonic Wars. Aftermath Napolen's campaigns in Italy in 1796-97 brought the first phase of the Revolutionary Wars tyo a close, but left France still at war with Great Britain. Conquering Mainland Europe In 1796 French armies advanced against Austria on the Rhine and in northern Italy, where they won a string of victories against the Austrians and their Sardinian allies. The following year Austria was forced to make peace on French terms, leaving France temporarily at peace on the European continent. War with Britain Britain remained at war with France, defeating the Spanish (now allied with the French) in a naval battle at Cape St. Vincent in February 1797. France had failed to land an army under General Hoche in Ireland in December 1796, but supported the United Irishmen uprising in 1798. The French were only able to land a small force in County Mayo, however, and could not prevent the British from crushing the Irish Rebellion. Rise of Napoleon Background The French Revolutionary Wars gave eager young troops an unparalleled opportunity to rise to high command. None was more ambitious and talented than Napoleon. The Siege of Toulon Born in Corsica in 1769, Napoleon Bonaparte was sent to military college and then entered the artillery, where promotion was less dependent on high birth. During the French Revolutionary Wars, he marked himself out at the siege of Toulon in 1793, earning promotion to brigadier-general at the age of 24. Rising up in the Ranks In 1795, when the Directory government was threatened by a coup, Napoleon led loyalist forces in Paris and was rewarded by promotion to full general. In 1796 France launched an assault against Austria on two fronts - on the river Rhine and in northern Italy, where the Austrians fought in alliance with the Piedmontese Kingdom of Sardinia. As a result, Napoleon was given command of the army of Italy. Napoleon's War When Napoleon Bonaparte took command of the soldiers of the French Army of Italy in spring 1796, they were short of pay, food, boots, and muskets. Napoleon's solution was to supply the needs of his army by defeating the enemy and living off occupied territory. He faced Austrian and Sardinian armies (the Kingdom of Sardinia included Piedmont in Italy's north) that together outnumbered his forces. By attacking them separately, however, he swiftly drove Sardinia out of the war and force the Austrians to retreat, allowing the French to occupy Milan. Throughout the rest of the year Napoleon fought a series of campaigns against Austrian counter-offensives that showed his skill at concentrating his forces at the point of combat. A decisive victory at the battle of Rivoli, in January 1797, further highlighted his tactical skill and paved the way for the Army of Italy to threaten an attack over the Alps into the south of Austria. Austria had won various battles in the south of Germany in 1796 but now, rapidly losing their nerve, the Austrians sought an armistice. The action in Italy brought rich plunder for the Republic and glory for Napoleon, who was presented in popular prints as a romantic figure leading his soldiers from the front. Cairo taken The peace with Austria meant Napoleon was briefly unoccupied. Though France was still at war with Britain, an invasion across the English Channel was rejected as unfeasible, given the strength of the Royal Navy. Instead, a plan was hatched for a military expedition to Egypt. The motives for this were never entirely clear. Egypt was officially a province of the Ottoman Empire, though in effect ruled by the Mamelukes, descendants of Turkish slave soldiers. If Egypt fell into French hands, it might give France control of the Eastern Mediterranean and even threaten British interests in India. The project pleased the leaders of the Directory because it would take a dangerously popular general and political rival away from Paris. Sailing from Toulon in May 1798, the French Army of the Orient had the good fortune to evade Admiral Horatio Nelson's British Mediterranean fleet, landing in Egypt in July. At the battle of the Pyramids the charges of the armored Mameluke cavalry proved powerless against French infantry squares and Napoleon was able to occupy Cairo. However, this success was immediately negated by Admiral Nelson's destruction of the French fleet at Aboukir Bay in the Battle of the Nile. The French are Routed With his communications cut and the Ottoman sultan declaring war, Napoleon's long-term prospects were poor. He took the offensive nevertheless, heading north over Palestine to Acre in spring 1799. Ably defended by Ottoman troops and British naval gunners, Acre resisted a series of attacks by Napoleon, until he retreated to Egypt with his army struck down by plague. The Ottomans took the offensive, landing at Aboukir Bay in July. The French advanced from Cairo and, though inferior in number, drove the Turks back with aggressive tactics. By August 1799, however, France's successes in Egypt were overshadowed by defeats in Europe. France faced a new coalition of hostile states, which this time included Russia as well as Austria and Britain. The Russian general, Alexander Suvorov, routed French armies in a series of victories in Itally ending at Novi in August, while Archduke Charles of Austria drove the French back over the Rhine. Napoleon returned to France to play his part in the political and military crisis. At Christmas, in a military coup, he took power as First Consul. By then France's military prospects had revived. After the failure of an Anglo-Russian invasion of France's ally, the Batavian Republic (the Netherlands) and a shattering loss in Switzerland for Russian forces - which obliged Suvorov to stage a desperate winter retreat across the Alps - Tsar Paul I pulled his country out of the war. Austria was left to fight Napoleon's French armies alone. In May 1800, Napoleon took a force through the Alps from Switzerland and descended into Italy behind Austrian General Michael von Melas, who was besieging Genoa. The Austrians turned and attacked Napoleon at the battle of Marengo in northern Italy, on 24 June. Napoleon had unwisely divided his army and was almost overwhelmed by superior numbers before General Louis Desaix, marching to the sound of guns, brought back a division to support him. Desaix was killed, but a cavalry charge commanded by Francois-Christophe Kellermann won the battle for France. Another notable French triumph was won by Jean-Victor Moreau's Army of the Rhine at Hohenlinden in southern Germany, on 3 December 1800. This decisive victory concluded the war. Austria, now threatened from the west as well as from Italy in the south, made peace in February 1801. A war-weary Britain eventually followed suit, signing the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802. Aftermath The French army left in Egypt by Napoleon was defeated by Britain in 1801. Muhammad Ali, an officer in the Ottoman forces, set himself up as Egypt's governor in 1805. Egyptian Power Mhuammad Ali crushed the Mamelukes and embarked on a modernization drive that made Egypt the most progressive economic and military power in the Muslim world. Meanwhile, the work of the scholars and scientists whom Napoleon had brought with him on his expedition gave a boost to Egyptology. The Rosetta Stone, the key to reading ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, was discovered in 1799 by a French army engineer, Captain Pierre-Francois Bouchard. Italy under Napoleon Meanwhile, the western half of northern and central Italy was absorbed by France, while in the eastern half an Italian Republic was formed in 1802, with Napoleon as its president. After he was crowned Emperor of the French in 1804, Napoleon was also proclaimed King of Italy and Italian troops served in many of his armies. The Kingdom of Italy lasted until 1814. References *David, Saul. War: From Ancient Egypt to Iraq. London: DK Pub., 2009. Print. Category:Wars Category:French Revolution